The Amazing Spider-Man 2 GameReview

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Not So Amazing

By Shunal Doke

Gameloft’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a lot of things—it’s quite ambitious in its attempts at an open world, and it looks pretty good for a mobile game. What it isn't, however, is a good game. It’s hampered by the terrible implementation of on-screen controls as well as a number of performance issues that make playing the game far less enjoyable than it could have been.

Exit Theatre Mode

One of the best things about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the open world, and the ability to go more-or-less anywhere you might want to in a miniature Manhattan. Sadly, the limitations of smartphones as gaming devices are in full show here, as even something as simple as turning around between web swings takes a considerable amount of effort, and a fair bit of praying that the shoddy on-screen analog stick actually does what you want it to.

It doesn't help that Spidey’s webs seem to stick to clouds whenever you try to swing, which makes the whole game feels a bit phony. Even back on the PS2, webs would stick to buildings and you swung alongside them naturally. Here, exploration feels like boring filler material that does little more than pad out the playing time.

The open world has a visible impact on performance, with long loading screens as well as random drops in frame rate. This is, however, to be expected, since a lot of care has clearly gone into making Spider-Man’s character model look as good as possible. The same can’t be said for other areas, such as the random bystanders, whose models tend to look like they were pulled straight from a 10-year-old game.

Gameplay mostly involves swinging around Manhattan, and completing random “help citizens” missions to unlock a story progression event. The random events do have a bit of variety, with some of them even changing thematically depending on which chapter you’re on. The first chapter, for example, deals with Electro, and has quite a few enemies guarding electrical generators for him, or even rigging some to blow up. After completing a certain number of events— both random and story-centric—Spidey gets to take on the boss of that chapter. Boss fights are interesting, bringing in new mechanics and quick time events, but tend to be a bit on the punishing side.

Impressive for a mobile game.

Gameloft has adapted the Batman: Arkham style of free-flowing combat, giving you buttons for normal attacks, web slinging, and counters. Where it fails, though, is that instead of having the sort of rhythm that’s ever-present in the Batman games, you’ll find yourself simply mashing the punch button. There’s a bunch of new combos to unlock, but they make little difference when mashing the punch button ends up being just as effective.

One of the biggest issues is the first thing you’ll probably notice: it requires an internet connection to play. That makes little sense in a mobile game, especially when you’re travelling and are likely to lose internet connectivity, if even for a few moments. The second problem, is the abundance of microtransactions. While there are ways to simply buy yourself all the power you might want, most of the in-app purchases are for optional items, such as potions or in-game money to buy new skills and abilities. It just feels odd to find a paid game (with a relatively high price tag compared to what you usually find on the App Store) filled to the brim with microtransactions.

Hit dem buttons!

The Verdict

For each thing Gameloft did right with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it seems to have gotten two things wrong. While Manhattan has been beautifully realised (at least by mobile standards), it’s been weighed down by clumsy controls, and random drops in frame rate. The combat had potential, but it lacks the depth necessary to fully realise it. In-app purchases are thankfully unnecessary, but their existence is still troublesome, and the internet connection requirement is an unnecessary nuisance.